Thursday, 31 October 2013

Sly & The Family Drone - Unnecessary Woe (Self-Released).
This time I am reviewing a record by Sly & the Family Drone which is coming out soon. At first I thought it was a Sly & the Family Stone record when Arlo (who helps me write these reviews) gave it to me and I like Sly & the Family Stone because they did Dance to the Music and that is a very good song that I like very much - It isn't Sly and The Family Stone though it is a band called Sly & the Family Drone and I thought this was a bit funny because I didn't think you were allowed to do that.
The reason that Sly & the Family Drone are called Sly & the Family Drone is because they are a drone band. I have reviewed some drone music before and when I did I had to learn a bit about it because I'd never really heard any before. What I learnt is that there is all sorts of drone music from all over the world and what it is is music that sounds more like sounds that are stretched out than normal music does. I quite like it but I think it is a bit of weird type of music and I think that's because you don't really hear it too much so I'm not used to it.
The first song on the CD that Sly & the Family Drone sent me is called Handed Cack and I thought this was quite funny because cack is another word for poo. The song starts quite quiet and it reminded me a bit of when it's early in the morning and not a lot's happening but then things start to happen a bit more - I was thinking of maybe a factory just opening and people getting things ready to work; there are clanking noises like machines starting up so that is what made me think of this. The noises start getting louder and there are more and more of them so then I started thinking of the men in the factory starting to work and getting busier, as well as noises like machines there was noises a bit like alarms and things like that.

Our kettle at the gate which we
put a sticker on that the band
sent us with the CD.

This song goes into another one without their being any gaps and things get all quiet again so it made me think of packing up time but then some drums start and it doesn't really sound like that any more because it reminded me of a marching band marching, there are other noises in the back like bit wind blowing and this made me think of a marching band walking though empty streets at night, maybe in a snowstorm or something. I imagined them marching and marching as the storm gets worse because the background noises got all bigger and I tried to imagine where they were marching to and I thought of them marching to London but finding it empty because everybody has had to leave because of the storm which the men get stuck in. I liked making up a story in my head to go with this music and I think this is a good way to listen to music because music should make you think of things. At the end of this tune the drums get much faster and in the story in my head I thought this was because the storm was getting worse and there is no escape from it. I think this is a very good story to go with this song and I think other people would see what I mean if they listened to it or they could make up their own stories if they wanted.
After this one is the third and last one which is called A Man that Could Look No Way but Downwards, with a Muck-Rake in his Hand and as well as having a long title it is also a very long song because it is nearly twenty minutes long. At the beginning it sounds a bit funny and weird like the band are testing out their things and there are noises like a drum kit being dragged about and other weird noises that I couldn't really work out what they sounded like - there are lots of different noises in this and like the other songs it gets noisier as it goes along with more different noises being added. I think what this most sounds like is when a band is getting their things together when they go to do a concert. It all gets very noisy after a long bit and there starts being a lot of shouting in it so I started thinking it sounded like the concert that Sly & the Family Drone were having was going wrong so they were getting frustrated shouting at each other and then after that it all starts to sound a bit more like a band playing normally, I thought this was very interesting and I enjoyed it and me and Arlo were bobbing our heads to the drums because It's that sort of music. I thought this was a good way to end the record.
Overall I would say that this was a very interesting record that people would like if they like music that is weird and that can get a bit noisy. I would like to thank the people from the band for sending it to me because I have enjoyed listening to it very much. I would give this record 10 out of 10.

Monday, 14 October 2013

This time I am record reviewing a record that was sent to me by my friend Anna who is a lady from Munich, Germany that I met when she came here to The Gate to do an episode of Video Drama. Video Drama is a group we do here where we make films about all different types of things, they are very good films and very funny and I enjoy my part as the narrator very much. You can see the episode with Anna in it below, it is a very funny one about the smoking ban. The reason Anna sent me this record is because it is a record of a band she is in and I was very pleased she sent it to me because I like her band very much - I have reviewed a record of theirs before and liked it a lot so I pleased to have this one and I hope I do a good job of reviewing it.

Damenkapelle are a group of 8 girls who are all also from Munich and I think it's good to have a band that is only women because there are lots of bands with men in them so I nice to listen to something different sometimes. I think Damenkapelle are a very good band not just because they are girls though but also because there are lots of interesting things in their songs.

The Damenkapelle Girls

The first song on this new Damenkapeele record is called boredom, so it must be about boredom - I don't really get bored because i've got plenty of entertainment; I listen to my records and CDs and play DVDs and I come to the Gate and do my things there and then at weekends I go out on a Saturday to Soho and on a Sunday I go to church and my favourite coffee shop on Shepherds Bush Green so I'm never really bored. I don't think I'd like it if i was bored though but I think it's okay for Damenkepelle to want to be bored, maybe it's because they are too busy or something and want a rest. I also think the song is about not wanting to work because that's what the singer sings (she is a good singer who sings well) so maybe it's about not having a job too, some people don't want to work and so they go on social security and are bored at home and I think that's okay really. The next song is called Panties and it starts of with a noisy guitar sound and then the girls start singing P-P-P-P-Panties from Hell which is a funny thing to sing I think and I wasn't too sure what it meant so we asked some of the other people at The Gate and Labake said were bad knickers that didn't fit so were painful but you're not allowed to take them back to the shop because they are knickers, Mary said they probably couldn't talk which I didn't understand but Mary says funny things, Shivesh said it was just a song but might mean something like pants on fire. I think it probably means that it's something to do with the Devil. I think the Devil is alright but some people don't like him. The song is a good one to dance; it is a good rocky song that I liked a lot.
After that on the other side of the record is a song called Sturmblut which we found out means bloodstorm in English which I thought sounded a bit like the name of a horror film and I quite liked it because of that because I quite like horror films. This one starts off with a noise like wind and then it does sound a bit like music from a horror film because it has an organ in it which sounds a bit spooky and the voices are too. It's quite a slow song but it goes a bit faster and a bit mad and there's a flute in it and stuff. I thought this was a very good song for halloween maybe.
The next one is called Ha Ha and this starts off with organ too but it's not spooky sounding like the last one though because it's sounds a bit more like fairground music. I especially liked the chorus on this one because it had girls in the background singing ha ha ha ha and I thought this sounded very good. This is quite a slow song but not in a bad way, it's a very good song I thought and a nice way to end the record.
Overall then I would say that this was a very good record to listen to because it is a fun record with lots of surprises in it and I think everybody who has never heard a good girl group before should listen to it and I am very pleased that I have it to listen to. I would give this record 10 out of 10.

About Me

My name is Peter Kemp and I live in Shepherds Bush, London. I like playing my records, Cd's, DVD's and Videos and being the presenter of Video Drama (see below). My favourite music is sixties music but i like all kinds.